While we weave, Bianca tells us a story… “Mum has always been an activist. She has always been a proud and vocal Aboriginal woman, but when I was in my teens I was ashamed of who I was. I grew up in a context that was profoundly racist. At school I was regularly…
Travel is exciting. Traveling is often boring. Standing by the side of the road, thumbing for a ride, getting a sore butt for hours on busses, hanging around in airports between flights… you need something to occupy your mind. In the dark old days, travelers used to carry books around to keep themselves from…
It’s Loi Krathong all over Thailand right now. Central to the festival ritual is the making and floating of Krathong: little floral rafts that you place into the river or sea. Focus Gallery Cafe , here in Chiang Mai, ran a Krathong making workshop yesterday. Anna and I went along and made us a couple…
…There is welding equipment all over the place, and the artists are all clad in protective overalls and home made masks that protect their faces from sparks. Noi shows us around proudly. There are steel horses, elephants, monsters and mutants… My original Thai tourist visa has expired. To get a new visa, I need…
…I don’t know what happened, OK? I got up, and took the mic, and after about a dozen notes I realised I was… just a tad… off-key. Maybe I was too sober..? There is nothing quite as traumatic as being given a pitying glance by good musicians when you are a tad off-key… In one…
Facing each other across the Chao Phraya River, in Ayuthaya, Thailand, two temples present a stark historical contrast. Wat Tha Ka Rong is a bustling modern complex, something between a strip mall and a church. A stone’s throw away is Wat Chaiwattanarm, a crumbling ruin dating from the early 17th century. (Top photo: what…
She twists and struggles, but he pulls her hair several times before releasing it and steers her into the foyer of the hotel…
“…we will fight to save this place. The army came during the curfew time and wanted us to close. We told them no way…” The Joy Bar, the last of Krabi’s once numerous live folk bars, is going to be forced to close it’s doors, on the 16th of this month, June 2014. This day…
…There is a vertiginous weight about the structures. Passing through the gates into the temple enclosure, struggling up the endless steep stairways, I am acutely aware of the intention of Angkor’s architects: impress the bollocks off people – make them feel very small… Me and J-man get on the slow train out of Bangkok. Actually,…
…a small demonstration is under way. A group of about fifty people stand on the steps. A few of them have small placards. What they are doing is completely illegal under the martial law regulations… The King of Thailand is old and frail. The govermnent is venal and unpopular. The people are angry and hungry…
…When I was a kid, my mother gave us ‘horse’s breakfast’ before school. Horse’s breakfast? I ask, perplexed. It is fresh bread soaked in red wine. So you had bread soaked in wine, and then went to school? How old were you..? Alvaro, a Portuguese gent whose acquaintance was made in Chefchaouen, offers a…
Seville is an awesome city to photograph and camp in. Colorful, chaotic. Vibrant but not too big. A messy, energetic clash of African design and European decadence, with a flamenco rhythm. Here are some photos I took of the city. Plus, a free accommodation tip. (Top: Catholocism in exextremis. This photo is in the…